studies to be prosecuted. Additional classes were arranged, and
these some of us declined to attend. This act of rebellion, as it was
regarded at the Mission House, had to be put down with a firm hand, and
a special meeting of the Board of Directors was called to deal with us.

'The night before we were to meet the Board we met in Gilmour's study,
to settle what we were to say to the Directors when we met them. One
only of our number, when he saw that there was likely to be a rather
serious interchange of ideas between us and the Directors, caved in
completely, and would have nothing further to do with our resistance.

'When we met the Board Gilmour made his defence in his frank,
straightforward way, and, I am afraid, upset some of the Directors very
much by his plain speaking. They did not know the man, and regarded him
as one of the ringleaders in rebellion, and, of course, were not in the
humour to do him justice. But when we met the subcommittee appointed to
deal with us the misunderstanding came to an end, and they admitted that
we had been in the right in objecting to the extra classes thus
imposed.'

During these last months in England James Gilmour paid much earnest heed
to the culture of his soul. Just before he sailed for China, he set
forth his inner experience and his keen sense of the difficulties of the
course upon which he was embarking in the following letter to a Cheshunt
friend:--

'Companions I can scarcely hope to meet, and the feeling of being
_alone_ comes over me till I think of Christ and His blessed
promise, "Lo, I am with you alway, even to the end of the world."
No one who does not go away, leaving all and going alone, can feel
the force of this promise; and when I begin to feel my heart
threatening to go down, I betake myself to this companionship, and,
thank God, I have felt the blessedness of this promise rushing over
me repeatedly when I knelt down and spoke to Jesus as a present
companion, from whom I am sure to find sympathy. I have felt a
tingle of delight thrilling over me as I felt His presence, and
thought that wherever I may go He is still with me. I have once or
twice lately felt a melting sweetness in the name of Jesus as I
spoke to Him and told Him my trouble. Yes, and the trouble went
away, and I arose all right. Is it not blessed of Christ to care so
much for us poor feeble men, so sinful and so carel